


(why won't you take me seriously) look at me all fucked up over someone i’ll never meet

by zoeysdianetti



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/F, dianetti, floorgasm is actually a very successful dance troupe that didn’t kick gina out, gina doesn’t work at the precinct, soft rosa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:41:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22037962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoeysdianetti/pseuds/zoeysdianetti
Summary: Rosa Diaz is a big fan of the dance troupe Floorgasm and has been for the past four years (not that she’d ever tell anyone that). She goes to most of their shows, just like tonight. Every time she hopes to meet the dancers after their performance, especially Gina Linetti, the founder of the troupe. She never got lucky, the dancers always leave immediately after their shows. But maybe things are different tonight, right?
Relationships: Rosa Diaz & Gina Linetti, Rosa Diaz/Gina Linetti
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	(why won't you take me seriously) look at me all fucked up over someone i’ll never meet

**Author's Note:**

> At two points in this story you’ll see songs mentioned and right then you need to look them up and listen for maximum experience.
> 
> The first one is “one thing leads to another”, listen to the cover by Ioanna Gika.
> 
> The second is “I could fall in love” by Selena. Have fun!

“Diaz, any plans tonight?” Peralta asks.

Rosa wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation happening in the break room. When she hears her name, she takes one earbud out and looks up from her phone.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you had plans tonight. We’re all going out for drinks to celebrate my birthday, first round is on me.”

Amy coughs.

“On Amy. I’m broke, sorry babe.”

“Sorry, can’t. I already have something else planned,” Rosa mumbles.

“What could  _ possibly _ be more important than Jake’s birthday?” Charles gasps.

“None of your business.”

Rosa decides the conversation is over and puts her earbud back in. She pushes play again on the video she was watching. It’s her favourite dance troupe, Floorgasm, performing at the Brooklyn community center in one of their earlier shows. Rosa loves the troupe and goes to most of their shows, not that she’d ever tell anyone. She’s been a fan for about four years now. When she first discovered them, they weren’t as popular as they are now. A year ago one of their video’s went viral because Yulia, one of the dancers, tripped and fell off the stage. Rosa was at the show she’s watching on youtube now, there were only 50 people in the audience then. Tonight she’s going to another one of their shows. It took a lot of effort to get a ticket. There were 3000 tickets available, but they were sold out in five minutes. Rosa was too late to get a ticket, so she went above and beyond to get a hold of a category 1 ticket. It cost her twice as much as the original price, but she couldn’t care less.

“We’re leaving, last chance to come with us Ro-Ro,” Charles says.

“If you say Ro-Ro again I’ll shove your foot so far up your ass you’ll be able to walk around on your own brain. Also, I’m still not coming. We’ll go out for drinks tomorrow Jake, happy birthday.”

“Thanks Rosa. Enjoy your throwing stars fight tonight. Or, you know, whatever other probably violent plans you have.”

Rosa smiles, thinking about Floorgasm.

“Is that a smile? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile before,” Amy wonders.

“Wanna find out how good I am with my throwing stars, Santiago?”

Amy turns her head away and walks out of the room. The others follow, only Holt is still in his office. Rosa closes YouTube and opens Spotify. She pushes play on her Floorgasm playlist. It’s a playlist with mostly female pop artists like Beyoncé and Rihanna, Floorgasm has danced to all the songs in it. Rosa leaves the precinct, walking to the closest Burger King. She doesn’t really like their burgers, but she doesn’t have enough time to go home to eat, and she also can’t go to Shaw’s for food because the squad will be there.

  
  


After dinner, Rosa goes back to the precinct to get her motorcycle. She races to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where the Floorgasm show will take place. In her opinion, it’s a weird choice to do it there. The theater looks super fancy, with an interior like an opera. It’s too chique for a four person dance troupe dressed in miniskirts. Rosa doesn’t mind though, she likes the way they dress. When the theater door opens, she follows the crowd to the stairs to find her seat. It’s on the third row, which is not bad, but she’d actually wanted a first row seat. She had the site open five minutes before the ticket sale started, but she was at work and Jake and Boyle walked past her. She didn’t want them to suspect anything, so she opened a case file to cover up the site. Too bad they needed her help with a case, so she ended up missing the ticket sale.

  
  


Rosa had been sitting in the theater for a while now, playing on her phone, when the lights go dim.

“Please turn off all mobile devices. Taking pictures or videos during the performance is not allowed. Enjoy the show,” a robotic voice says.

The lights go out and Rosa feels giddy. She’s excited about the show. A spot lights up a small place on the right side of the stage to show Zoey.

“In the beginning—“

A second spot goes on, a little to the left. revealing Yulia.

“there was nothing.”

The third spot lights up, showing Gina, Rosa’s favourite dancer in the troupe. She founded it and Rosa has always admired that.

“And then God, a woman, said—“

The fourth and last spot goes on, all the way to the left, and now everyone can see Jessica.

“Let there be Floorgasm!”

Umbrella by Rihanna starts playing and the women burst out in a perfect choreo. It’s one of their first choreo’s, but the audience likes it a lot, so they keep performing it in every show. Rosa likes it too, but it’s not her favourite. She prefers Halo or Side To Side. The music fades and morphs into Run the World. Rosa sits back and enjoys the show, admiring the way the dancers move their bodies. She used to do ballet herself and she loved it, but then one of the other girls found out about Rosa’s bisexuality (God knows how) and she told everyone. Suddenly none of the girls wanted to be in the changing room with her, none of them wanted do dance with her anymore and Rosa felt alone. She ate lunch alone, went to and from school alone and even celebrated her birthday alone. At some point she decided it had been enough and she confronted Nicky, the ballerina who started it all. Nicky denied everything and laughed at Rosa, together with her friends. Rosa finally snapped and punched Nicky in the face. Her nose was broken and bled a lot. Miss Myriam walked in on Rosa throwing herself at one of Nicky’s friends and Rosa got expelled. Ever since the incident she started shutting everyone out, never sharing anything personal anymore.

  
  


As the show goes on, Rosa feels like Gina is looking right at her sometimes. It’s impossible though, there are 3000 people here. Gina looks at everyone, not just Rosa. At least, that’s what she thought. Demi Lovato stops singing over the speakers and the first notes to Rihanna’s Diamonds start playing. Floorgasm dances like their life depends on it. 

“ _ You're a shooting star I see, a vision of ecstasy _ ,” sounds and Gina looks right at Rosa, who thinks she’s imagining it again. Then Gina winks. Right at Rosa. She’s sure, she didn’t imagine this. Gina Linetti actually winked at her. Rosa is freaking out, but manages to keep it cool on the surface. The dance ends and the Floorgasm girls strike a pose. The audience starts applauding and cheering. Rosa stands up and claps as hard as she can. Other people follow her example and soon the entire audience is giving the troupe a standing ovation.

“Thank you so much for coming everyone!” Zoey yells.

“See you next time, Floorgasm out!” Jessica adds.

They wave and exit the stage. People around Rosa start gathering their stuff and leaving. She does the same. Once she gets out of the Academy, she hurries to the exit for artists, hoping to finally meet one of the dancers. Sadly, they’re known for their fast departures after their shows. Today is also not Rosa’s lucky day. When she gets to the back of the Academy, the Floorgasm van is already gone. She’d expected it, but that doesn’t make it any less of a bummer. Maybe it was the wink, but Rosa actually thought she had a chance today. Disappointed, she walks back to where she’d parked her motorcycle. It’s only 11pm, so she decides to go to Shaw’s. The squad might still be there to celebrate Jake’s birthday.

  
  


When Rosa enters Shaw’s, the first thing she sees is not the squad celebrating. It’s Jake, sitting at the bar with a woman. Not Amy, but someone Rosa definitely recognises, even though the auburn-haired woman’s back is facing her so Rosa can’t see her face. The woman is still wearing the outfit she’d worn during the show less than an hour ago.

“Rosa! You made it! Did the swordfight end well?” Jake yells.

“I thought it was a throwing stars fight?” Rosa says.

The woman sitting next to Jake turns around and if Rosa wasn’t sure before, she’s definitely sure now. Jake was having a casual conversation with Gina Linetti.

“Come sit with us, I still owe you that drink,” he says. Rosa walks over to them and orders a whiskey.  _ Try not to freak out _ is the only thing going through her mind, over and over again.

“You wanna introduce me Pineapples?” Gina asks.  _ Gina asked about me, damn! _

“Oh, yeah, right. Rosa, this is Gina. Gina, this is Rosa. Gina and I grew up together.”

“Hi,” Rosa says. It sounds cool, but she feels like she’s about to explode. She’s sitting at the bar where she goes  _ all the time _ , but this time it’s with Gina  _ freaking _ Linetti. 

“Get to know each other a little bit, I’m going back over there. Charles brought his devil sticks and I have to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself or anyone else with them. He learned a few new tricks but he’s not very good at them yet.”

“Great. I love small talk,” Rosa growls.

“So. A throwing stars fight?” Gina starts.

“Yeah. Jake and I have this thing going where I never tell him what kind of plans I have and he just assumes it’s something violent. It’s great.”

“Well, obviously you weren’t at a throwing stars fight tonight.”

“And how would you know?”

“Girl, I was on stage. Do you really think I didn’t see you?”

Rosa is caught off guard. Gina  _ saw _ her? And she  _ remembers _ her? It hits her. The wink really was meant for her, she didn’t imagine anything. Instead of sharing her rollercoaster of emotions with Gina, Rosa says: “Wait, so you can actually see the people sitting in the audience?”

“Only the first four rows because the light on stage reaches them. All the others are in the dark. I even winked at you during the show, you knew I saw you.”

“I thought it might be at someone else. We don’t even know each other, so why would you wink at me?”

Gina chuckles. “You clearly know me. I’ve seen you at a lot of shows.”

“I’ve seen you. That doesn’t mean I know you.”

“Okay, do you wanna know me?”

Something inside Rosa makes her feel like she gets all warm. She contemplates what she should say. Does she have to be the badass everyone knows? Or does she show Gina what she’s like behind the walls she’d built up over the years?

“I’d love to,” she says, after realising Gina already knows she goes to dance shows.

“Okay. So my name is Regina Linetti, you already knew that. I pretty much grew up without a dad, just like Jake. It’s why we became such good friends, he’s practically my brother. I’ve always loved dancing and often did mini performances with Jake. He wanted to be a songwriter when he was little, before he discovered Die Hard, so he made up little songs and I danced to them. I founded Floorgasm six years ago, and I’m single.”

The last part catches Rosa off guard.

“You’re single?”

“Why are you so surprised? Floorgasm takes up a lot of my time, so I don’t really have time to date. I’ve been engaged eight times though. It never ended well.”

“ _ Eight times?” _

“Yeah, if you’d ask me to marry you right now, I’d say yes. Enough people make jokes about it already, it’s why I try to hide it from our fans. Anyway, tell me something about you.”

“Actually, I never tell anyone anything about my personal life.”

“That’s not fair!” Gina exclaims. “I just told you about my eight engagements, something I never tell people I don’t know well!”

“I never asked you to tell me about them,” Rosa grins.

Gina just sits on her stool, looking defeated. She turns to the bartender and asks for two beers.

“Fine. You win.”

Gina slides the second beer in Rosa’s direction.

“What do I have to do for you to tell me something about you?”

“It’ll take a few more drinks,” Rosa jokes.

“Well then, challenge accepted. It’ll probably be cheaper if we have them at my place though. You wanna come?”

“I don’t know, my mom always taught me I shouldn’t go anywhere with strangers.”

Gina playfully punches Rosa on the arm.

“Dork.”

“I haven’t finished my beer yet, so we have about five more minutes left to talk about the show,” Rosa says.

“You wanna talk about the show? I thought you were gonna say you needed to know more about me.”

“You just wanna talk about yourself, don’t you?”

“Duh. I’m like, super interesting.”

Rosa laughs. Actually laughs. Out loud. A few of her coworkers turn their heads. She scowls at them and they turn back around.

“Why’d you do that?”

“I have a certain status to uphold. Anyway, the show. Why’d you wink at me?”

Gina looks caught off guard.

“I—” She sighs. “I see you at tons of our shows. I never knew who you were, but I liked seeing you all the time. The badass woman in the leather jacket. I guess I’ve always been intrigued by you and wanted you to notice me.”

“Notice you? Are you  _ kidding _ ? I come to every show. I run to the exit every time, hoping to finally meet you, but you’re always gone.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. It’s our policy. We always leave right away, because sometimes we have places to be after a show and if we always wait for our fans we’d be late, or we’d have to leave mid-meeting and that would dissapoint a lot of fans.”

“I get that,” Rosa says, taking a sip of her beer. “I’m glad I finally met you. I’ve always liked you the most out of the four of you.”

Gina snorts. “You’re only saying that because you’re talking to me. If you’d met Yulia, you would’ve said the same thing to her.”

“No I wouldn’t. I mean it.”

“Well in that case, thank you. I’m glad I met you too, instead of always staring at you from the stage.”

Rosa finishes her beer and puts the empty glass back on the bar.

“So, what do you wanna do?” she asks.

“You wanna come to my place?” Gina suggests for the second time.

Rosa nods, stands up and grabs her helmet. They go outside. The squad looks at them from their table, shooting each other questioning looks. Jake just grins, he knew they’d hit it off.

“Woah, is that your motorcycle?” Gina asks in disbelief, staring at the huge black thing.

Rosa nods. “How are we going to your place?”

“The Floorgasm van dropped me off here, I figured Jake would give me a ride home, but this will do. Do you have a spare helmet?”

Rosa nods again, opens the compartment and hands Gina a matte black helmet.

“Damn it,” she mutters.

“What?”

“I just realised this will ruin my hair. You’re not allowed to look at it after I take the helmet off, deal? I don’t want you to see my hair when it’s flat.”

Rosa snickers and mumbles “Yeah, sure.”

They put their helmets on, after Rosa informed Gina that there’s a headset inside so they’d be able to talk. Rosa helps Gina mount the bike and then gets on herself.

“Hold on tight, okay?”

The motorcycle roars alive and soon they’re cruising the streets of Brooklyn. Gina gives Rosa directions to her apartment and soon Rosa realises she’s been in this neighbourhood before. She shakes it off, because she’s a cop and Gina seems to live in her precinct. It’s not that weird to recognise the streets there. Instead, she focusses on the way Gina’s body is pressed against hers and how tight Gina is holding onto her. This is something she could only dream about for four years, and now that she has it, she doesn’t want it to ever end.

“Here it is,” Gina says. Rosa pulls over and parks her motorcycle in front of a very familiar building. It’s the one where she visited Jake a few times when he was sick (don’t tell anyone) and where they celebrated his birthday two years ago, because he wasn’t dating Amy yet and was too broke for drinks at Shaw’s.

“You live in the same building as Jake?”

“No, Jake doesn’t live here anymore. We switched apartments when he got in trouble because he didn’t have enough money. You didn’t know he moved?”

Rosa shrugs, she doesn’t really care where Jake lives. She sees him at work anyway, so why bother coming over if there’s no good reason. Gina hands Rosa her helmet and Rosa puts it away. She takes her own helmet upstairs with her, because there’s not enough room for two in the compartment. Gina opens the door and Rosa enters Jake’s old apartment. It looks completely different from last time Rosa was here. It’s clean (it has never been clean), there are no random things on the floor everywhere and all the massage chairs are gone.

“It looks different without the empty pizza boxes,” Rosa says. Gina chuckles and mumbles something agreeing.

“Sit down, I’ll get us something to drink.”

Rosa does what Gina says, while she disappears to the kitchen. Rosa looks around and notices a piano. It wasn’t here when Jake lived here, so it must be Gina’s. Maybe she’s one of those super talented girls who can do literally anything. She wants to ask about it, but then Gina comes back with a bottle of tequila and two shotglasses.

“Ready for this Rosa? I’m about to learn everything there is to know about you.”

“With just one bottle of tequila? I’d like to see you try. How do you wanna do this?”

“I thought we could go classic truth or dare,” Gina shrugs.

“How do shots fit in that?”

“They don’t really, I haven’t thought this through.”

Rosa laughs, takes the bottle from Gina and puts it away.

“This isn’t gonna work.”

“Well then, what do you wanna do?”

Rosa nods at the piano. 

“Can you play it?” she asks.

Gina nods and walks to the piano. Rosa follows her. They both sit down on the piano bench. It’s like a cliché from a movie where the love interests sit down and play the piano together perfectly, as if it’s not that hard to coordinate something like that with zero rehearsal. Gina places her hands on the keys and starts playing a song that sounds vaguely familiar. When Gina starts singing, Rosa realises it’s One Thing Leads To Another by The Fixx, but slower. She’s pretty sure she once heard a cover by Ioanna Gika like this. Of course Gina wouldn’t cover a song by a bunch of dudes. She looks at Gina and rolls her eyes. Gina keeps playing anyway, and when the song ends, they both sit in silence for a while, staring at the keys.

“So what did you think?” Gina asks.

“I loved it. I didn’t know you were such a talented singer.”

“Well, looks like you’re learning more about me, which is not fair, considering I still don’t know anything about you.”

Rosa smiles at Gina. It’s not a grin, not a smirk, nothing like that. Nothing precinct-Rosa would do. No, this is a genuine, soft smile that comes from deep inside. This smile escaped the walls Rosa built to protect herself, it found a way out and it wanted to say hi to Gina. Rosa gets embarrassed and walks to the couch, trying to get away from Gina and her feelings.

“Why are you walking away?” Gina asks. She stands up and sits back down next to Rosa on the couch.

“I don’t know actually. I just really like you and I don’t wanna mess everything up. This is gonna sound dumb, but I have wanted to meet you for such a long time. I’ve had so many made up scenarios in my head and this is nothing like how imagined it.”

“Well then, how did you imagine it?”

“Honestly, I always thought it would be after a show and it’d be very rushed. I always hoped it would be different though.”

Gina nods.

“What did you hope for? What would it have been, ideally, before tonight?”

“I wanted to be the only one waiting for the four of you and you’d all have time and we’d just chill. You would give me your autographs and we’d take silly selfies that I would never let anyone else see because I’m embarrassed.”

“And would that have been better than this?”

Rosa shakes her head.

“I could never have dreamed of this happening. I still can’t believe I’m in Jake’s old apartment with you, listening to you playing piano and singing. Honestly, I always thought you’d be kind of a bitch. That didn’t stop me from liking you though.”

Gina lets out a laugh.

“I am kind of a bitch to most people. You just have this weird effect on me, I can’t explain it. It might be because you intrigue me. I don’t know anything about you, you’re so mysterious and that makes me feel like I should respect you. You might kill me or something.”

“I’m not gonna kill you.” Rosa pauses. “Do you really want to know more about me?”

Gina nods. “I would love to.”

And so Rosa starts telling Gina things about herself. She tells her about the ballet academy, about her bisexuality being revealed and being kicked out. She tells her about the police academy and meeting Jake. She tells her about the time she had a goldfish but kept forgetting to feed it so it died. She tells her about the first dead body she saw on her first week on the job. She tells Gina everything, she tells her things she has never even said out loud. When she’s done, she feels relieved. She finally tore down her walls to let someone new in and it feels great.

“I love listening to you talk,” Gina says. “Do you have any more stories?”

Rosa shakes her head. “I’ve never told anyone else this much. How did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“You made it so easy for me to open up. The squad doesn’t even know where I live. They know nothing about my life. I’ve known you for two hours and you already know everything there is to know about me.”

“You haven’t known me for two hours. You’ve known me for four years. You just haven’t been able to talk to me in those years.”

Rosa laughs. “That was very poetic and cliché. Please never say anything like that again.”

“Alright fine, I admit it. That was  _ bad _ . I’m sorry,” Gina cackles.

“Can you play me another song?” Rosa asks.

“Sure.”

They sit down at the piano again. Gina starts playing and it takes Rosa a while to recognise the song again. Gina starts singing, but even then Rosa doesn’t immediately know. She listens to the lyrics very carefully.

“ _ I could lose my heart tonight, if you don't turn and walk away. 'Cause the way I feel I might lose control and let you stay. 'Cause I could take you in my arms and never let go. _ ”

And then, right when Gina sings the next sentence, it hits her. It’s a song by Selena. Not Gomez, just Selena.

“ _ I could fall in love with you. _ ”

Rosa blushes. Gina is looking at her while still playing the piano and singing. Rosa doesn’t want to look away, she doesn’t want to interrupt, she doesn’t want to do anything that could ruin this. But she also knows what she  _ does _ want to do: she wants to kiss Gina.

“ _ Siempre estoy soñando en ti, besando mis labios, acariciando mi piel. Abrazándome con ansias locas, imaginando que me amas como yo podia amar a ti. _ ”

“You can’t possibly have dreamed of kissing me. You didn’t know me yet,” Rosa manages to get out almost breathlessly.

“I told you I saw you at all our shows. More even, I  _ looked _ for you. Now, please shut up and kiss me, will you?”

Rosa smiles and moves closer to Gina until their lips touch. Even while kissing, Rosa can’t stop smiling. It’s just the effect Gina has on her. She makes her soft. She makes her let her guard down and smile. Gina tries to get even closer, and because their mouths can’t possibly be any closer together, she presses her whole body against Rosa’s. Rosa’s hands travel up Gina’s back. One rests on Gina’s face, the other in her neck. Neither of them pull away, because this is the moment both of them didn’t even know they dreamed of, but now that they have it, they’re never letting it go anymore.


End file.
